Heavy Drinkers Outlive Nondrinkers, Study Finds

I know the feeling. I just celebrated my 145th birthday.........

LOL

Actually, turned 50 last week.

jackjack, you are just a young pup.

50 - you wanna talk 50- well how many more years you think you got?

You are now old enough to do what you want to do when and how you want to do it and you don't really care what anyone else thinks....enjoy!

... *cough* ... I'm 27 in 2 months... :P

Take it with a grain of salt...perhaps govt had this finding put out to help speed up the effectiveness of their campaign to dumb us down. Don't get me wrong...I'd love to believe this...I like to whine...uh, I mean wine!! :)

Sorry for your losses, elaine. I know how it is.

Sorry to rain on the parade.....this isn't a good subject for me, but I wanted to throw my opinion in anyway.

This parade needs to be rained on. There are many people out there that have lost friends and family member far too early in life from drinking.

I do not believe this report is accurate.

Elaine- my bro died at 46- sucks major!

Drunks are very good at killing themselves. But still, what doesn't add up here? Could it be that drunks aren't really that dangerous on the road per mile driven?

I get drunk all the time... now that I work.. I save it for my days off, but... I DON'T DRIVE. I get a cab or have a friend take me home. I never drive. I've lost couple friends to that. I don't even chance it.

They're really only 35 years old.....they just look like they're 90.

Hahahaha! ..could be.

Then they go into the Street Spa aka local mental hospital where they have detox, occasional lectures on how to get your life back in gear, eat real food and a place to shower, sleep on a real bed, and lots and lots and lots of meds.

With all due respect, just because you had a problem with drinking doesn't mean even people with problems, that drink, need to stop.

max- maybe in that NICU, the numbers are not like that across the board.

as of right now, given the conditions we are facing.............. I think i'll limit my time in lala land, thanks tho:)

I prefer alert at the moment.

Is your point how far apart the drinks are? If they are fairly close together, then 5 or 6 drinks (assuming an average metabolism rate) is pretty drunk.

five or six drinks in a day would level me.. never took to the liquor like some other people

LOL -- yep, would level most of us!

I think what you are missing is the definition of heavy drinker really isn't that heavy a drinker. A guy who has five or six a day isn't really that drunk.

Lmfao.... Yeah if you paced yourself over the day.... no biggie. But slam those down in 2-3 hrs and you got a nice buzz going on.

2 places you never see meatheads getting into a fight;

A strip joint and a pot party.

Yes, so let's legalize it already. OK .. dude lets legalize it like .. tomorrow .. ok I'm tired ..zzzz

Legalize...Don't critici....I forgot what I was talking about. Anybody got some cheetos?

GREG, That stuff will likely kill ya...evidently you haven't seen the reality inspired, psuedo-documentary movie "Reefer Madness".

A strip joint and a pot party.

I've seen it happen at a strip joint. Only once though. Between a group of Blacks and Samoans got into it over some racial @!$%#. Got ugly fast. Bouncers got there ass kicked, the place cleared out and a grip of cops came. Party over. Lol.

An American on vacation in Australia walked into a pub and asked for the closest thing to American beer they had, the bartender gave him a glass of water.

Around here I drink what I can afford, it does have the advantage of filling me up before I get drunk.

Canadian beer, delicious stuff, higher alcohol content.

Here's to Canada! Prosit!

Screw the gym, I'm off to the bar!

I told a bunch of wheatgrass, eating steroid abusing muscleheads once "Every hour your in the gym, I'm talking up your girlfriends at the Bar! All that work, and the one muscle they want to enlarge is inure to excercise. Except maybe for c*ck pushups.

seriously not funny guys. Not even with dripping sarcasm quotes.

Carbon FEDWAY,

You relish the good life too, huh?

bdobb the Stumbler- I fogot to mention the newly found sores on your sack that show up because your new bar gal likes a good tea bagger. "Hey bar-keep, whats that old douche bag drinking?" "Let me set her with a vineger and water on the rocks." Be careful of the fumes, they can be toxic.

Marvin,

Wow, there must be a lot of hard bark on that GAL. Hopefully no infected Bartholin gland "down there" to worry about, hub? Goen finichwid samychtyme.

Duck-For some reason she wore a Levi jacket and had jerky labes for gnawing.

muscompletesamich

Don't know what you think will keep your prostate healthy- but if its the orgasm a day theory it ain't true.

I just read another study that said that even one drink a day increases a woman's chance of breast cancer. So maybe you don't die , you just get breast cancer? My liver always hurts and my enzymes are always high, I can feel it if I just have one drink. I drank a lot in my younger years, 14 until about 30 but by then the damage was done. I don't have hep C but almost everyone I know does. So maybe in my personal demographic circles this is a bad idea.

All our kids friends rock climb, extreme ski, mountain bike, and drink and smoke wacky weed like there is no tomorrow. That extreme sports groups are a bunch of luahes

That study showed an increase but only infinitesimally. You don't want to live in a bubble. Were this true, the French and Germans would have higher rates of BrCa, and the Norwegians lower, and it is actually the opposite. My great aunts never had a drink in their lives, and died of breast cancer.

Just so you know- HepC has no connection to alcohol. If you have any sort of hepatitis you shouldn't drink. There are many types of hepatitis, and perhaps you have one of those. There is alcoholic hepatitis, generally reversible if you quit drinking. There is Cirrhosis, not reversible, but also usually not just simply from drinking, alpha-1 antitrypsin etc.

I know that hep C is not from drinking, but drinking with Hep C is a bad idea. Also drinking can cause Cirrhosis without having contracted Hep C. I saw many a Viet Nam vet die from Cirrhosis in their 20s from drinking. Alcohol can kill you and make you really stupid and more likely to contract some of the hepatitis strains as well. If you are an alcoholic it is unlikely that you are going to quit drinking because you are already an alcoholic-hence most likely addicted.

As for the breast cancer I disagree with you totally. BrCa(#) is a gene for breast cancer. There are certain genetic groups who have higher or lower rates of breast cancer genes. This being said, alcohol's effect on breast cancer rates, especially certain types is very significant. Obviously vegan,no drinking, meditators can and do get breast cancer. But that doesn't mean that women can drink with no consequences for breast cancer. So I would recheck that if I were you. I don't know if you are male or female, but that stats are clear. If you are a medical doctor, and advising patients? I would really recheck this.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100823162318.htm

The authors write, "We found that women who drank one or more drinks per day had about double the risk of lobular type breast cancer, but no increase in their risk of ductal type breast cancer. It is important to note that ductal cancer is much more common than lobular cancer accounting for about 70 percent of all breast cancers whereas lobular cancer accounts for only about 10-15 percent of cases

."

So it is Russian Roulette with your breasts. Also HRT in postmenopausal women also increases this sort of cancer, and this is the age group most effected. I think women can drink all they want, but they should be aware that the effects of drinking when young are not yet known, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders can be caused by as little as one drink at the wrong time (there is no cure and it lasts a lifetime) and they are also researching now whether or not sperm damage from alcohol can also cause FASD. So drink away, but be aware of the possible consequences.

Actually, yes, BrCA is a gene, it is associated with breast cancer- but only 30% of people with the gene get cancer! So it is not a cancer sentence, and there are people who get cancer who do not have the gene!

As I said yes, this found drinking increased the risk, but in absolute terms it only raised it a very small amount. You said it best- even vegan- yoga doing- meditating- skinny people get breast cancer- we just do not know enough for me not to live my life. BTW- obesity has a much higher risk association, and I do not see you talking about that.

I am a female whose mother and several aunts have had cancer. I drink and I have never had children, and I am on HRT. My risk is sky high- there is nothing I can do about that- and no I would not stop drinking or my HRT thinking it would reduce those risk factors. I am a medical doctor, and I have read the original work, and I am very comfortable with my decisions for myself and my patients.

FAS cannot be caused by one drink no matter when that drink might occur. If sperm damage was actual, or enough to cause fertility issues, college girls wouldn't get pregnant, and they do, alot. Sounds like you are very anti drinking- and that is cool, just don't try to misrepresent science.

www.faslink.org

Tell me doctor, since you say I am the one misrepresenting science? How many drinks does it take to cause brain damage and FASD (the correct term for the disorders?)

You cannot say that one drink will not cause brain damage, so please, maybe follow your own advice about science.

I did not say anything about people being unable to get pregnant from the sperm damage. If anything drinking may increase the risk of unintended pregnancy by lowering inhibitions, and making the use of contraception more difficult or undesirable.

You can think whatever you want but the data shows that drinking does increase the risk of breast cancer, and I hope you would at least inform your patients honestly. If you want to engage in risky behavior, and say @!$%# it , I'll do what I want, that is fine with me, but don't tell my daughters that there isn't a risk worth avoiding.

Also this study was of people aged 55-65. What about all those who died of liver failure, car crashes, and other alcohol related problems before 55?

The risk of breast cancer gets much higher starting at 60. So many in the study here, may have breast cancer and not yet be aware of it. They might be dead at 66. Or they might die before 55 from alcohol related breast cancer. This study is really flawed in this way.

As for me, you make quite a few assumptions that are not correct. I am not anti-drinking. I drink occasionally. Different populations have higher genetic risks than others that can account for differences in outcome. Not all groups metabolize alcohol the same. Women do not metabolize alcohol the same as men. Sperm damage HAS already been proven. They are still studying the effect on a fetus. What is unclear so far is if it can cause similar irreversible brain damage as female drinking can. I would wait and see on that , but wouldn't take chances in the mean time.

Drinking during reproduction activities in my opinion is really stupid. It is a risk that if you lose on the bet has lifelong terrible consequences with no treatment. bottoms up.

Cheers!

These mutations can lead to birth defects, miscarriage, or illness in the resulting baby. When children with fathers who are heavy drinkers and non-alcoholic mothers are compared with those with FAS, the children of the drinking fathers are not grossly malformed, but they do have certain intellectual and functional deficits, and they are also more likely to be hyperactive.

http://www.fasalaska.com/DadsBirthDefects.html

I drink occasionally, and see no real problem with it. But I do see a problem with how unaware people are of how one drink or drinking while sexually active in reproductive years can indeed increase a lifespan of hell for those who are impacted by FASD.

It is probable that 10% to 15% of children are significantly enough affected by prenatal alcohol exposure to require special education. As they become adults, FASD does not disappear but the issues of youth translate into ongoing problems in family relationships, employment, mental health and justice conflicts. The cost to the individuals affected, their families and society are enormous and as a society, we cannot afford to ignore them.

To ignore the facts does not change the facts.

http://www.faslink.org/

69% of the never-drinkers died during the 20 years, 60% of the heavy drinkers died and only 41% of moderate drinkers died

I'll concede that the headline is factually accurate, however the article is misleading in that it takes secondary notice to the fact that moderate drinkers have a much lower mortality rate than "all of the above."

To imply that heavy drinking is somehow a healthier lifestyle is just wrong.

The study indicates that non-drinkers may have a shorter lifespan, at least in part, because they lead more stressful lives.

But, to resort to heavy drinking to increase your survival chances by only 9% doesn't make sense, when you can increase your survival chances by 19% with moderate drinking.

Sorry about the link thing, my link is to a Blisstree article that re-posted the article from Time.

As for Cloud; he's not "my" hated author, he's a just guy with a questionable reputation as a Journalist.

yeah because so many heavy drinkers were already weeded out well before age 55 where the study picks up. common sense. Had another friend of a friend killed by yet another drunk driver. Common sense says drinking may not kill you , but it might kill somebody else if not done responsibly.

Minnie, this study lasted longer than many of the FDA approvals. That should tell us something!

As long as the participants were honest about how much they drank, it is a very interesting finding. I still think that everyone's system is different, and what works for one, might not work for another.

At 6 o'clock, I am going to choose a bottle of wine probably have 3 glasses with dinner, and contemplate what you said, shepherd!

HEH HEH HEH HEH common sense I will most likely join you but my preferred poison is three fingers of Old Forester on the rocks. Helps me sleep and seems to move my digestive tract along too. :=))

Love that- life is hazardous to your health!!

LOL doctorsteph I would love to lay claim to that little line but alas i plagerized it from some long forgotten contemporary philosopher. That is my style though. I dilly dally through life collecting such little philosophical tidbits and then stitch them together like a quilt so as to come up with my own 'life philosophy.' HEH HEH HEH HEH May not look too fancy but it works for me. :=))

I think that is great!! Alliterative life quilts right here on the vine!! FRP

Life is a terminal disease, and we all have it.

Another dilly!!!

doctorsteph thank you for your friend request. It has been duly accepted. Not sure of the origin of the term 'dilly.' I know about 'deusey' as it came from the old Deusenberg automobile. Maybe the folks at Dairy Queen know since they sell a Dilly Bar. LOL

For me, dilly came from gran, and she is gone so I can't ask her- sorry!

No need to appologize. The English language is rife with such euphemisms and many of them have unknown origins. These can come from a number of English speaking countries which might account for the variety and certainly some of them are quite local or regional in nature and just 'catch on' in the popular vernacular. Not surprisingly one that is perhaps derogatory can, over time, become almost complimentary or vice versa as our culture evolves. This is what keeps linguists in business I suppose LOL. Somebody has to try and keep track right? HEH HEH HEH HEH

Somebody- you perhaps?? Love the fact that you know this stuff!!

Just another little patch in my 'philosophical quilt.' :=)) Trouble is, I know a little bit about a lot of things and a lot about nothing. LOL As one of my friends put it I fall into the "just enough to be dangerous" category. I call it being prepared for a really boring coctail party. HEH HEH HEH HEH

Next cocktail party- you are on the guest list!!!